Akinkugbe Aderonke A, Brickhouse Tegwyn H, Bandyopadhyay Dipankar, Nascimento Marcelle M
Department of Dental Public Health and Policy, School of Dentistry, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23298, USA.
Institute for Inclusion, Inquiry, and Innovation, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23298, USA.
Dent J (Basel). 2020 Jan 10;8(1):8. doi: 10.3390/dj8010008.
Parental reports of their children's health status is integral to pediatric medical and dental care. Therefore, understanding the accuracy of such reports is vital. Our objectives were to (1) assess the correlation between maternal reports of their children's indicators of caries experience (subjective assessment) and actual caries status determined by oral examination (objective assessment), and (2) identify potential modifiers of this correlation. Longitudinal data from the Avon longitudinal study of parents and children ( = 1429) was used to assess the correlation between maternal reports of the number of missing and filled teeth of children aged 38 months, 54 months, and 5.5 years and clinical oral examinations of decayed, missing and filled teeth conducted when the same children were 31, 43 months, and five years of age. Homogeneity chi-square tests assessed differences in correlations according to sociodemographic factors. Overall, we found a statistically significant correlation that was weak to moderate in magnitude. Maternal reports of missing teeth at 38 months was significantly correlated with decayed teeth, 0.27 ( < 0.001); missing teeth, 0.23 ( < 0.001), and the decayed, missing and filled (dmft) index, 0.35 ( < 0.001) based on oral examination at 31 months. A maternal report of filled teeth at 54 months was significantly correlated with decayed teeth, 0.30 ( < 0.001); filled teeth 0.30 ( < 0.001), and dmft 0.40 ( < 0.001) at 43 months. Mothers tended to underestimate the extent of missing and filled teeth in their children irrespective of the child's age, but the extent of underestimation was greater among younger children. Maternal age, education level, and whether the child had ever visited a dentist were significant modifiers of subjective and objective caries assessments. From a clinical and dental public health perspective, our findings of a weak to moderate correlation of maternal assessments of their children's caries experience may be concerning when reporting the burden of dental diseases in large population studies or for surveillance purposes that rely on self-reported measures and must therefore be utilized with caution because of the potential to result in underestimated disease burden.
父母对其子女健康状况的报告是儿科医疗和牙科护理不可或缺的一部分。因此，了解此类报告的准确性至关重要。我们的目标是：（1）评估母亲对其子女龋齿经历指标的报告（主观评估）与通过口腔检查确定的实际龋齿状况（客观评估）之间的相关性；（2）确定这种相关性的潜在调节因素。来自雅芳父母与子女纵向研究（n = 1429）的纵向数据用于评估母亲对38个月、54个月和5.5岁儿童缺失和填充牙齿数量的报告与在这些儿童31个月、43个月和5岁时进行的龋齿、缺失和填充牙齿临床口腔检查之间的相关性。齐性卡方检验根据社会人口统计学因素评估相关性差异。总体而言，我们发现存在统计学上显著的相关性，其强度为弱到中等。基于31个月时的口腔检查，母亲对38个月时缺失牙齿的报告与龋齿、0.27（P < 0.001）；缺失牙齿、0.23（P < 0.001）以及龋齿、缺失和填充（dmft）指数、0.35（P < 0.001）显著相关。母亲对54个月时填充牙齿的报告与43个月时的龋齿、0.30（P < 0.001）；填充牙齿、0.30（P < 0.001）以及dmft、0.40（P < 0.001）显著相关。无论孩子年龄大小，母亲往往低估其子女缺失和填充牙齿的程度，但年龄较小的孩子中低估程度更大。母亲的年龄、教育水平以及孩子是否曾看过牙医是主观和客观龋齿评估的显著调节因素。从临床和牙科公共卫生的角度来看，当在大型人群研究中报告牙科疾病负担或用于依赖自我报告措施的监测目的时，我们关于母亲对其子女龋齿经历评估的相关性为弱到中等的发现可能令人担忧，因此由于可能导致疾病负担被低估，必须谨慎使用。
